Sifting for facts from the Pentagon

Pentagon chief faces 

grilling over setbacks in 

fighting ISIS

Pentagon chief Ash Carter told a senate hearing that coalition allies fighting Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq have been failing to do their jobs in making gains against the organization, while also conceding that current US strategy has not led to the containment of the terrorists. Gayane Chichakyan has the latest on the hearing

Sifting for facts: 6 things we learned from 

Secretary Carter’s Senate testimony

United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter at the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington on December 9, 2015. © Gary Cameron / Reuters

Senators have spent hours grilling the Secretary of Defense about US strategy in fighting ISIS. While the Pentagon chief stuck to the administration’s main talking points, he did make some intriguing admissions about what the US has done, and wants to do.

Ash Carter has testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on multiple occasions in recent months. However, Tuesday’s appearance was given significant coverage by all the major US news networks. The focus of their reports was on the secretary’s sound bites – such as the quip that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) was “not contained” (which directly countered President Barack Obama’s most recent assertion), or such truisms as “the truth is, we are at war.”